Trending Use Cases for Data & Analytics The ways to use data are almost endless. Any organization, any team, even any individual can use data to help solve a multitude of problems. Here are some examples of ways government is using data and analytics to address the most pressing issues today.
RACIAL EQUITY
North Carolina Rolls out Vaccines Race and ethnicity data collection plays a critical role for government to equitably distribute COVID-19 vaccines. Governments and health care providers can carry out racially equitable distribution only when they know who is receiving vaccines by race and ethnicity. In January 2021, only 17 states were publicly reporting vaccination data by race and ethnicity, according to KFF, a health policy analysis organization. The number has grown to 41 as of March 2021, which still means not all states are reporting or collecting this information. North Carolina is one of the 17 states that started tracking race and ethnicity data early on. As of March 2021, it reported having less than 1% of its vaccination data missing this information.
How? The state made race and ethnicity a required field for vaccine providers to complete. ▷ Providers already needed to use the state’s management system to acquire vaccines. Adding a mandatory data field to complete registration helped the state collect complete data on people who received shots to guide equitable vaccine distribution. ▷ Bloomberg reported that the state has one of the smallest differences in vaccination rates between Black and white residents, though it is struggling to vaccinate Hispanic residents at the same level. ▷ The bottom line: It wouldn’t have known this without the data.
“We are…holding ourselves and vaccine providers accountable for ensuring that underserved and marginalized communities have access to vaccines,” said Mandy Cohen, Secretary of the North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services. A GovLoop + Carahsoft Guide
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